Connecticut

UPDATED 4 p.m.: CCSU has three 'persons of interest' in custody, but no weapons Police refuse to release details on weapons, threat, potential of danger on campus

DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press

NEW BRITAIN (AP) - Campus and New Britain police are offering few details about a report of an armed man that led to a lockdown at Central Connecticut State University this afternoon, although campus police did say no weapons were recovered.

Video from a campus system indicated one of three may have been holding a sword; a 911 call to New Britain police reported a man with a sword and possibly a gun on campus.

Police will say that three "persons of interest" are in custody and they are "student age" but will say nothing else about what happened, if they are all students, or what, if any, weapons were involved. Later in a 4 p.m. news conference, police said no weapons were recovered, and acknowledged one of the suspects was, in fact, a student.

Chris Cervoni, interim director of public safety for CCSU, said campus police were able to track the suspects using the university's swipe-card and video system, and they were arrested in the hallway of a campus building. He cited inconsistencies in his early reports to the ongoing investigation; police will return to sweep dorm rooms in James Hall, where the three were arrested.

"There's a possibility it could have been a Halloween costume, that's what we're looking into it," Cervoni said.

It is not clear if any charges have been filed.

A 911 call prompted a university lockdown and warnings for students to stay away from windows.

The university declared a campus emergency and an hour later its website continued urging students to remain inside buildings. Photographs showed police officers sheltering behind campus walls as several agencies responded.

University spokesman Mark McLaughlin said, "Somebody was seen either with a gun or was thought to have a gun."

Jordan Governale, a 20-year-old junior from Farmington, said he walked by a man carrying a backpack and with a sword and sheath strapped to his back. The man was wearing a mask, camouflage pants, knee pads and a vest resembling body armor, Governale said.

A minute later he said he saw police responding.

"At first I thought it was a Halloween costume. But after I saw the cops I thought it was some sort of threat," he said. "It's pretty scary. It's pretty strange, unexpected."

Governale said he did not hear gunshots.

Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, says university police asked for assistance related to a report of a suspicious person.

More than 12,000 students attend the university outside Hartford, which has a 182-acre campus.

New Britain police did not immediately respond to requests for information. Two New Britain schools near the campus were also locked down as a precaution, according to the superintendent's office.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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